‘The Iranians Are Coming': The Imagined, ‘Sinister’ Iranian Threat in Latin America
by Ramzy Baroud - PalestineChronicle.com
Reading the text of a bill that was recently signed into law
by US President Barack Obama would instill fear in the hearts of ordinary
Americans. Apparently, barbarians coming from distant lands are at work. They
are gathering at the US-Mexico border, cutting fences and ready to wreak havoc
on an otherwise serene American landscape.
Never mind that crazed, armed to the teeth, homegrown
American terrorists are killing children and terrorizing whole cities. It is
the Iranian menace that we are meant to fear according to the new law. When
compounded with the other imagined threats of Hezbollah and Hamas, all with
sinister agendas, then the time is right for Americans to return to their
homes, bolt their doors and squat in shelters awaiting further instructions,
for evidently, “The Iranians are coming.”
It is as comical as it is untrue. But “The Countering Iran
in the Western Hemisphere Act”, which as of Dec. 28 is an official US law, is
not meant to be amusing. It is riddled with half-truths, but mostly complete
and utter lies.
Yes, Iran’s influence in Latin America is on the rise.
However, by US standards, the expanding diplomatic ties, extending trade routes
and such are considered a threat to be ‘countered’ or per Forbes magazine’s
endless wisdom, ‘confronted.’
Language in politics can be very dangerous as it can
misconstrue reality, turning fictitious scenarios into ‘facts’. Despite its
faltering economy, the US continues to experience a sharp growth in its think
tank industry - men and women whose sole purpose are to invent and push
political agendas, which oftentimes belong to some foreign entity; in this case
it is Israel. Ian Barman, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council
reflected that sentiment exactly in a recent article in Forbes.
Only in the past year, “policymakers in Washington have
woken up to a new (Iranian) threat to U.S. security”, he wrote, citing an
alleged Iranian assassination plot in Washington. According to Barman, that was
the wake-up call leading to a “deeply worrisome” reality. In a moment of
supposed level-headedness, he writes: “exactly how significant this threat is
represents the subject of a new study released in late November by the U.S.
House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. That report, entitled ‘A
Line In The Sand’, documents the sinister synergies that have been created in
recent years between Iran and Hezbollah on the one hand, and radical regional
regimes and actors—from Venezuela to Mexican drug cartels—on the other.”
But according to Agency France Press, reporting on the new
law on Dec. 29, “Washington has repeatedly stated it is closely monitoring
Tehran's activities in Latin America, though senior State Department and
intelligence officials have indicated there is no apparent indication of
illicit activities by Iran.”
Indeed, on the issue of Iran’s influence in Latin America
there are two contradicting narratives. One that merely acknowledges Iranians
growing diplomatic outreach in Latin America since 2005 and another that speaks
of massive conspiracies involving Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, drug
cartels, and yes, even underground music piracy groups. The alleged conspiracy
is not only far-fetched, it is purposely fabricated to further punish Iran, on
behalf of Israel, for its nuclear program. The panic over Iran’s ‘infiltration’
of the US ‘neighborhood’ in Latin America, didn’t start a year ago (as alleged
by Barman) but rather coincided with old Israeli-Western propaganda which
pained Iran as a country ruled by religious fiends whose main hobby is to
assemble bombs and threaten western civilization. When pro-Israeli think tank
‘experts’ began floating a scenario of ‘what if Iran and Hezbollah join forces
with Mexico’s Los Zetas drug cartel’ a few years ago, the idea seemed too
absurd to compel a rational response. Now it is actually written into the new
bill turned law as if a matter of fact. (Sec. 2, Findings 12)
The bill doesn’t only lack reason, proper references and is
dotted with a strange amalgam of politically-inspired accusations, it also
relies on wholesale allegations of little, if any plausible foundation
whatsoever: “Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies with a presence in Latin
America have raised revenues through illicit activities, including drug and
arms trafficking, counterfeiting, money laundering, forging travel documents,
pirating software and music and providing haven and assistance to other
terrorists transiting the region.” (Sec 2, Findings 8)
Of course, since the whole exercise is fueled by Israeli
anxiety, Hamas also had to somehow be pulled in, if not indicted through the
same inexplicable reasoning: “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
concluded in 2008 that almost one-half of the foreign terrorist organizations
in the world are linked to narcotics trade and trafficking, including Hezbollah
and Hamas.” (Sec. 2, Findings 10)
US author and journalist, Belen Fernandez has been looking
into this matter for years. In all of her writings on the topic she seemed to
trace the very thread that unites the invented upheaval over Iran’s supposed
takeover of the ‘Western Hemisphere.’ In an article entitled: “Distorting
Iranian-Latin American Relations”, nearly two years ago, she wrote: “Iranian
‘penetration’ in Latin America has in recent years become a pet issue of
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials and American neoconservative pundits, many
of whom take offense at the perceived failure of the U.S. government to adequately
appreciate the security threat posed by, for example, the inauguration of a
weekly flight from Caracas to Tehran with a stop in Damascus.”
The issue for Israel and its US conduits is entirely
political. Iran is indeed expanding its political and diplomatic outreach, but
entirely through legal and official means, something that the US has failed to
do since The Monroe Doctrine gave the US exclusive hegemony over Latin America
starting in December 1823. But much has changed since then, especially in the
last two decades when the US swung towards disastrous Middle East foreign
policies, much to the pleasure of Israel. The suffering endured by Arabs and
Muslims was the needed break for some Latin American countries to challenge US
policies in their respective countries. This period was the era in which
powerhouses like Brazil rose and popular governments took the helm. US policies
in Latin America are not failing because of Iranians ‘sinister’ plans, but
because of something entirely different.
Demeaning Latin America as a hapless region waiting for US
saviors and pinning US political stocks on Iran might serve immediate Israeli
purposes, but it will certainly contribute to the growing political delusion
that permeates Washington. Alas, there are little indications that Washington
politicians are anywhere near waking up from Israel’s overbearing spell. Just
examine the author of the anti-Iran bill: Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina's
3rd District. He is a 'freshman', but has massive ambitions. He joined the
Congress in 2011 and quickly learned the ropes. He knows that in order to
succeed on Capitol Hill, one must win favor with the pro-Israeli lobby. He
sponsored the bill on January 3, just few days before Iranian President went on
a major diplomatic tour in Latin America to expand his country’s international
relations. That alone was unacceptable, for Latin America has long been
designated as the US ‘backyard’, per the belittling perception of US mainstream
media. The trip ignited the ire of Israel, which media and officials considered
a travesty at a time that Tel Aviv was tirelessly working to isolate Iran. The
bill was clearly a coordinated move, as its language indicates textbook Israeli
hasbara.
Duncan might have been a novice, but he is quickly catching
up. On May 20, he proudly posted a statement on his House of Representative
page that sharply censures his own president’s remarks on Israel, while fully
supporting the political stances of the leader of another country, Israel’s
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He decried Obama’s siding with the
“Hamas-led government”, thus “undermined(ing) Israel’s position in the
negotiation process.”
“President Obama’s statement that Israel should retreat to
its impossible to defend 1967 borders breaks a promise to one of our strongest
allies, threatens Israel’s security, and jeopardizes the future of democracy in
the region,” he wrote. Of course, Duncan wholeheartedly agreed with Netanyahu’s
right-wing policies. “(The Israeli) Prime Minister understands the hard reality
of Israel’s precarious security situation and daily threats of terrorism. I
agree with the Israeli Prime Minister that President Obama’s position is simply
unrealistic.” He concluded with a very telling statement: “As a Christian, I
ask Americans to continue lifting up the people of Israel with prayers for
safety and the hope for a lasting peace.”
This strange attitude towards politics and American national
security is the real threat, not Iranian embassies and water purification
projects in some Latin American countries. But considering the rising religious
zealotry, shrewd Israeli lobby and the numerous think tanks of catered wisdom,
there is little space for pragmatic politics or sensible approach to anything
that concerns Israel. Thus, Obama enacted the bill into law and funds have been
secured to evaluate Iran’s growing ‘threats’ in ‘America’s backyard’ so that
proper measures are taken to counter the frightening possibilities.
What Duncan doesn’t know however, is that Latin America is
no longer hostage, neither to the whims of Washington, nor to his South
Carolina’s 3rd District. And that the ‘Western Hemisphere’ is no longer defined
by the confines of US foreign policies, which seem to be narrowing each year to
meet Israeli expectations and not those of America.
- Ramzy Baroud
(www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor
of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is: My Father was A Freedom Fighter:
Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press).
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